Chapter 3 CHAPTER THREE
MAEVA
A delicious scent fills the air as Taron and I hug. It smells like winter and the first rain. It is everything the High Council building is not, clean. It fills my lungs and goes straight for the deepest, most animal part of my brain, the part that has been carefully locked away since I was a child and figured out how the world works. My Mate is here in this place and he's coming to me.
The realization causes me to scream internally. This isn't a good thing, it's a curse. I was hugging Taron because when I came out this morning, the disdain directed towards me was too much and I needed a breath of fresh air. I came outside and Taron hugged me and assured me that everything would be okay. Now, I'm hugging him because my life is about to change.
I hear footsteps and awareness spreads through my body. He's not even here yet and I already feel like this.
"Are you okay?" Taron whispers in my ear.
The growl comes, a deep, guttural sound that doesn't feel human, it feels like pure possessive, animal command. We both startle at the tremor it causes. For entirely different reasons.
“Mine.”
Taron moves away from me and turns to the intruder. His first instinct is to bow, I feel it through our bond. Just my luck that my fated captor is an Alpha of Alphas. The scent is stronger now, raw and terrifying. Alpha Caius. We've never met even though he controls the pack a few miles behind us but I know of him. He's known for his cold efficiency, and unwavering will. He bends to no one.
He stands barely ten feet away, his eyes locked on me. As soon as our eyes meet, he starts charging towards me, probably to claim me as his mate.
Taron steps in front of me, putting his body between the Alpha and I. “Alpha, stand down.”
I growl, feeling insulted. Did Taron forget that I'm the Alpha in this situation and not him? Is he just like everyone else, looking down on my power because I'm a woman?
Caius barely registers him. He stops inches away from Taron but he's not looking at Taron, he is looking through him. He growls again, louder this time, demanding surrender.
I feel my own body betraying me. My Wolf whines, an embarrassing, weak submission that makes my fists clench. If I let this happen, if I let him touch me even just a little, my wolf will take over and all my years of hardwork will be shattered. I'll be reduced to a footnote. Maeva, the only female Alpha who became a mere Luna.
I'd rather die.
I use the rage as a weapon, channeling a lifetime of insults, dismissals, and objectification from every male Alpha in this building into a shield.
“Alpha, control yourself,” I say, my voice cutting through his primal noise. It's not a plea, It's an order.
He stops, momentarily stunned. His hand twitches at his side. Like he doesn't know what to do with me. I move past Taron and I stand in front of the threat.
"Taron, if you ever step in front of me to protect me from a threat again, you will defend your position and your life. Is that clear?" I say without looking at him.
"Yes, Alpha. I'm sorry."
I meet Caius’s gaze. The intensity in them almost makes me back down but I can't. If I even show a sliver of weakness, he'll eat me alive and I'll never see the outside of his bedroom ever again.
He's watching me just as carefully. Probably wondering why we're not tearing each others clothes off by now. I can feel his wolf, barely below the surface, screaming at him to claim me, to mark me right here in front of everyone.
“Control your beast, Alpha.” I spit out. “This is the High Council, not your pack’s mating grounds. I am an Alpha and I reject you. We cannot be mates."
I pause, letting the implication of my words hang heavy in the air. His face twists. The hunger in his eyes doesn't go away but the shock of my rejection hits him like a physical blow. I can see the battle in his eyes, the instinct to claim me is fighting a losing war against his pride and everything he knows to be true about mates.
He looks past me to Taron. "Leave us." He growls out in his Alpha voice.
Taron starts to move but stops when his wolf remembers that I am his alpha, not Caius.
"Excuse us, Taron." I say and he leaves.
Alpha Caius then moves closer. I don't move back or flinch when his hand comes up and touches my face. I force myself and my wolf to remain calm.
"You're my mate. The goddess made it so. The only reason I'm not forcing my mark on you right now is that I find this drama amusing."
Fuck him. My resistance is amusing to him? I can never give in to him, that will be the end. He'll take my name, my pack, and my pride. I didn't fight all my life for respect only to end up as the Luna who never leaves the pack.
"I'm not your property, you cannot claim me."
The moon goddess is cruel. I have begged and I have made sacrifices. If I was going to get a mate, I wanted a Gamma or an Omega. I didn't even want a Beta. Male Alpha's get mated to Omega's all the time, why should mine be different?
Caius laughs and folds his arms. "I have heard of you."
"I don't care what you heard. We will not be mates."
"You cannot reject me, I am the more dominant one."
"I am an Alpha too."
His smile comes on slowly, like he's smiling at a foolish prey. "That, you are."
I can't listen to him any longer. The more I'm in his presence, the more my wolf begs for me to give him a chance. I turn to walk out the same way Taron did and he calls me back.
"Don't walk away from me."
His voice pulls at my will and I turn in anger. "Don't you dare use the Alpha voice at me. It doesn't work on other Alphas."
"Mine does and I was not using it on you. That was the mate bond."
I realise that he's telling the truth. I've been in his presence for far too long. I briskly walk away, nearly running. I won't give into some deity's cruel joke. I am not his to claim.
I find Toran outside the council building. He's standing alone in a corner.
"I'm sorry I disrespected you like that in front of him." He says through the mind link.
I nod and he smiles a little. "Your mate is Alpha Caius." He says. He knows my stand on having a mate.
"He won't give up. He's a very powerful alpha that gets everything he wants and right now, he wants you." He says again.
"He can't have me. I'll fight him with everything in me."
"What's the plan? He will want to corner you after the meeting and try to claim you."
"He's welcome to try. I will fight with everything in me." I say out loud.